Favourite bits of decorating the house for Christmas

I'm very slowly becoming less Scrooge-like :)

this is on my coffee table (previously Connor's crib)

The kids have a ton of very small things under the tree and there are one or two for others and actually a couple for me too... bought by me.

I keep going to buy presents for other people and I come out with stuff for me - at CNA the other day I bought myself about 20 lovely pens in a bag, at Clicks the other day I bought myself a little gift set because it sparkled :) and at Poetry yesterday (my first time in a Poetry shop which explains why my bank balance is healthier than it could have been) I bought myself some more treats. The guy asked if it was a gift and I said, "yes, for me"!

Anyway, since I have work tomorrow - I know, I must surely be one of the 1% in SA still working, let me get on with the "afters" as Laura mentioned in yesterday's comments.

you can look right up through this section of my house - the openness is what I love!

I realised that I actually don't have a picture of the full tree. Use your imaginations :)


Things I love to do:

1. Use up all my clear vases (which is 95% of them - I have a thing for clear vases) and fill them with Christmas tree decorations :)
2. Use up all the fruit bowls and... fill them with more Christmas tree decorations.
3. Put little Christmas tree ornaments everywhere... everywhere. 
4. Oh, and candy canes. This is probably year 3 for some of them. Until they go all squishy, they'll be doing their real job ...of decorating the tops of vases.

(I'm nothing if not predictable)

had to crop tight because I found my kids' school visible in the background. Do you like my reflection? :)

So this ornament thing that seems to go on all over the world except SA? Or is it something I don't know about?

There's a nice blog for people like me. She wrote something the other day that said "love the look of chalkboards; hate the dust" (that is me to the T!). Same with these ornaments for every year. Love the idea - hate the thought of the clutter and "having to keep" the things for sentimentality's sake. When I get tired of things, I want to happily toss!

Of course, there are many ways to decorate your home for Christmas and other holidays.

entrance hall table - yes, those are the same wire trees the kids made last year. They actually haven't moved the whole year :) Why fix something that's not broken? (I've told you about my one friend who leaves her tree decorated the whole year, right?)

Connor did this one

this looked like this for about a week and then I got irritated and took the remaining ones down and hung them from a vertical piece of ribbon, so only the beaded garland remains

Connor's tree

Kendra's tree

this one moved from the keyholder. When I sent my client a photo of it and gushed about how much I love it, she sent me another one (!) for this year. That one is not as Christmassy so is in my study. Needless to say, I LOVE IT!

thankfully, these pegs have cards now.

I had to take this photo - my watch and the ornament matched!

i love these little ladies! This flying one is my favourite

this one looks like she's saying "aaah, freedom" :)

from Mandy! LOVE - it missed the tree last year - I think it arrived on 2nd or 4th Jan (I have it on Instagram somewhere...) but it now has a firm place.

I love these white wooden ones too

And bonus, this year the kids have actually left everything as I set it up. Except for the washi tape - that they won't leave alone at all.  I found Kendra practically wallpapering an envelope this afternoon.

So on a scale of 1 - 10, I'd say I'm a 5. I make some effort but I like to still see my house. And to be honest, on the 6th Jan, I can't wait to take it all down and give the place a good clean (there are some of us out there who like cleaning).

Where on the scale are you?

I want to hear from the Americans too! (this is probably a 1 for you :))